Over the festive period there have been some interesting developments with the tagged whooper swans.

Firstly Y6K abandoned central Ireland and headed north-east on 21st December having been in Ireland since 10th November 2009. He passed through Kintyre and then headed down towards the Solway on 23rd to reside on fields next to the river Eden just east of Carlisle by Christmas Day. Y5T has stayed put in his more westerly location just south of Westport in Ireland.

On 24th December, A9F’s transmitter, a bird last heard from on 2nd November from Myvatn in Iceland, suddenly gave a fix from Northern Ireland and so had probably recently arrived there, the tag gaining enough charge at this lower latitude to send a fix. From 15th-25th December there were good wind conditions for migrating from Iceland to the UK, a situation which deteriorated on 26th December. Unfortunately it appears that another bird, Y5L, took a similar strategy but did not take advantage of this window of opportunity and has probably perished in the Atlantic. On 29th December his tag gave a fix over 400 miles west of Ireland, last being heard from north of Myvatn on 2nd November. The tag gave a position slightly further south-west in the Atlantic on 1st January, suggesting tidal drift considering the wind conditions. It is likely that this bird got caught up in the north-easterly belt of winds between the UK and Iceland at some point after 26th December. On 3rd January, Edmund’s tag gave a further fix from the Lon area, a typical departure point and wintering site for swans in Iceland. The lack of movement suggests his tag has probably been shed.

Of great intrigue were continued reports over the festive period of a mystery bird first reported with a tag on 27th November from Loch of Funzie on Fetlar by Malcolm Smith, a reserve warden, he managed to get some pictures but so far the ring has not been read. It is hoped that, although not as variable as on the Bewick’s swans, we may be able to identify this bird from the bill markings by comparison to the archive of bill shots held by WWT of all ringed birds.